Talking Beauty With Baywatch's Ilfenesh Hadera

There are moments when you know you've made it — one of those moments sneaked up on Ilfenesh Hadera from behind a bush. “Dwayne [Johnson] is like, ‘There's a camera there, there, and there,’ ” says Hadera. She was smack-dab in the middle of a paparazzi stakeout. “I'm flexing. I'm in a bathing suit. These guys are hanging out in the bushes. The next day, you've got 50 photos of yourself from every angle online.”

She wasn't caught in some steamy affair or snapped during a tropical getaway. But when those paparazzi lenses zoomed in on the 31-year-old, Hadera (who has an Ethiopian father and a European-American mother and was born in New York City) became a bona fide movie star. It was her first day playing Stephanie Holden on the set of the new Baywatch movie in a cherry-red number inspired by the world's most famous one-piece. “You think of Pam Anderson and what she looked like in hers,” says Hadera, imparting some one-piece wisdom: “Gotta arch your back.”

On stepping into the red bathing suit: “They're fairly racy and skimpy one-pieces. You're thinking, I need to whip my butt into shape.”

On newfound beach habits: “Sunscreen all the time, which I haven't always used. When I was a teenager, I would just bake in the sun, which is a terrible thing to do, and now I see my little crow's feet coming in.... And I have wavy hair, so I use

. It keeps my hair from getting frizzy and lets it do what it does — I'll spray it, put it in a bun, and get a nice wave.”

On bathroom fails: “A million Q-tips die in the making of my cat eye. My fiancé is like, ‘How are we out of Q-tips again?’ I use a Sephora waterproof liquid eyeliner in black.”

On rewards: “It's unrealistic to think you're going to stay in that shape forever. You'd kill yourself. So there was a light at the end of the tunnel. I went to a restaurant in New York City called Raoul's — it's an institution — and had steak au poivre and all the fries and all the wine. It was so good!”

On her own insecurities: “I haven't always had great skin. I don't care if you're in the best shape or you've got the nicest head of hair — when your skin is bad, you just feel like you don't want to be seen. It just sucks.”

Swimsuit by Eres. Photographed by Guy Lowndes.

On relieving guilt: “I started using La Mer The Renewal Oil, which is like heaven — it makes your skin glowy and dewy. If my mom knew how much I spent on it, she would slap my wrists, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Maybe I'll get her one so I don't feel guilty about it.”

On her skin-care routine: “When you find a skin-care routine that's good for you, it's like gold,” says Hadera. After cleansing, she mists her face with